Verbatim Blu-Ray DVD-Drive 43888 - External - Black

A great compact, lightweight portable Blu-Ray drive. There's no additional power connector, only a single USB-C port on the back. Cable is supplied in the box. Not silent when running, but not particularly noisy. Getting the disc in and out is, not surprisingly, slightly more fiddly than a standard tray-loading drive, since you need to push the disc onto the central spindle. But that's unavoidable on such a small drive. Build quality seems good, and it works fine with my Windows 10 PC and various test discs. Works great so far, and seems to be good value for money. Note that this drive does not work with MakeMkv out-of-the-box. It seems it used to, but the manufacturer has revised the internals and changed the actual drive from a Pioneer one to LG. According to the diagnostics the internals are now a Hitachi-LG BU40N. You will definitely need to flash the firmware if you need it to work with MakeMkv. Happily, this can be done fairly easily and afterwards it works perfectly.

I needed a USB 4K/Blu-ray drive that could back up my growing collection of 4K UHD discs, and after a little research it appeared this one likely could - and it does! I’ve backed up dozens of 4K UHD Blu-rays using it, as well as regular Blu-rays, DVDs and even music CDs. It can play 4K UHD Blu-rays, standard Blu-rays, DVDs and CDs. What was most important to me, though, was that it could back up 4K UHD Blu-rays specifically using the right software. That’s not a common feature among drives (unlike regular Blu-ray and DVD backup), so this is something of a unicorn. This ability though depends on the drive’s firmware, mine came with the correct version, but that might not always be the case for everyone. For general use, it’s plug-and-play - instantly recognised on both Windows and Linux with no driver installs needed. It may come with software for burning discs (I never used it), and mine also included a blank Verbatim BD-R disc. It’s slim, light and well made - perfect if you need something portable. It isn’t silent when spinning at full speed, but for playback it’s perfectly fine. Purchased August 2024 for £90.49.

It contains a HL-DT-ST BD-RE BU40N drive with v1.05 firmware. Works well and very compact. The supplied USB-C cable is very short and I had to source a longer one. Works on Windows 11 without installing any drivers, just plug in and go. I got it when it was discounted to £100.

Bought this item back in April of 2023 and upon arrival, immediately used it as part of a pair of editing jobs. It worked great. I didn't have to work with physical media until this past October, six months after I bought the drive. Plugged it in, the light on the device lit up... then turned off. I tried multiple connections on my laptop (including multiple USB slots and even the Lightning connection) and multiple wires and then multiple laptops. Nothing could get the drive to power on. As I'm just outside of the six month post-purchase period I am not protected by UK law and am unable to pursue a refund or exchange from Amazon. Reaching out to Verbatim, I received shocking customer service where after a couple of exchanges I was told it's illegal to rip blu-rays in Europe, which was not something I made any reference to in my emails. Hard to do anything, let alone rip blu-rays, if the device won't turn on. Now I'm left with a £90 device that worked twice and unable to obtain a refund or exchange. Sorely disappointed.

The **Verbatim Blu-Ray DVD-Drive 43888** is a compact, external optical drive designed to bring Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD playback/writing capabilities to modern laptops and ultrabooks that lack a built-in drive. It’s a versatile and powerful tool for data archiving, media consumption, and backup. --- ### ⭐ Key Features & Design * **Ultra-Slim and Portable:** With a sleek, black, often brushed-metal enclosure, the drive is barely larger than a Blu-ray disc itself. It's extremely lightweight (around 215g), making it ideal for travel and carrying in a laptop bag. * **Bus-Powered:** A major convenience, the drive is powered directly by the USB port (via a USB-C connection), eliminating the need for a bulky, separate AC power adapter. * **4K UHD Support:** It supports the playback of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, although note that **playback software is not included** and must be purchased separately. * **Connectivity:** It features a modern **USB-C 3.2 Gen 1** interface and includes both a USB-C to USB-A cable and a USB-A to USB-C adapter for maximum compatibility with various devices. * **M-DISC Archiving:** It is fully compliant with M-DISC technology, which is designed for archival-grade data storage with a life expectancy of hundreds of years. * **Bundled Software:** Includes the **Nero Burn & Archive software** (Windows only) for organizing, burning, and securing your files. ### 🚀 Performance (Read/Write Speeds) The Verbatim 43888 offers solid performance for an external slimline drive: | Media Type | Max Write Speed | Max Read Speed | Max Capacity | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | **BD-R DL** | 6x | 4x | 50GB | | **BDXL** | 4x | — | Up to 100GB | | **DVD-R** | 8x | 8x | 4.7GB | | **CD** | 24x | 24x | 700MB | ### 👍 The Good: Archiving Power in a Tiny Package * **Excellent Portability:** Its size and bus-powering make it a genuinely easy-to-use mobile accessory. * **High-End Capability:** The support for BDXL (up to 100GB) and M-DISC is fantastic for long-term, high-capacity data archiving. * **Internal Drive Quality:** This drive is frequently reported to contain a high-quality **Pioneer BDR-UD04** mechanism, which is often favored by advanced users for its reliability and compatibility (especially in the UHD ripping community). ### 👎 Areas for Caution * **4K Playback Software:** While it supports 4K UHD discs, the required playback software (like PowerDVD Ultra) is a separate, often costly, purchase. * **Mac Compatibility:** While listed as compatible with macOS, some users report occasional issues with Blu-ray discs (not CDs or DVDs) without third-party software or firmware adjustments. * **Mixed Longevity Reports:** Due to the nature of external slim drives and the bus-powered connection, occasional issues with power-hungry discs or long-term reliability have been noted by a small number of users. ### 🌟 Conclusion The **Verbatim 43888** is a top-tier choice for an external optical drive, particularly for those focused on **data archiving** (due to M-DISC support) and future-proofing their setup with **4K UHD** read capability. Its slim design and simple USB power connection make it a superior, highly practical alternative to internal drives. It stands out in the slimline category for often housing reliable Pioneer components. If your primary need is a portable, high-capacity burner for long-term data backup, this drive is a **highly recommended** investment.

Awesome piece of tech that's a savage cut above anything else on the market. I love it! beautiful design, easy to take with you so you can watch movies on the go, even burns Bluray and BDXL discs, plus it has an HDMI to usb converter in the box. Another great machine from Verbatim. Buy them all!!!

Unit is nice and slim however it is slower than a desktop drive and can be a little noisy when initialising a disk. However this is to be expected and is common with slim drives. Overall I am very happy. Unit works great out of the box for MKV. For 4k playback you need to make sure your setup is fully compatible. Would highly recommend at around the £90 mark, especially as it has official 4k disk playback support. Unit comes with player, usb c cable and adapter, 25gb blank disk and software package. Once again a bargain for the price

When I changed PCs I did not have room for the full height Blu-Ray DVD player in my old PC and I decided the easiest thing to do was to get an external player. I was sceptical about whether an external player, connected via a USB3.0 port could really work (and relied on the fact that Amazon will accept returns if it didn't). I am happy to say it has so far worked flawlessly. It is very thin and takes up no room when I store it in my desk drawer. A very nice piecce of kit which I can recommend.